March 29th, 2020: placed my first instacart order
April 2, 2020: day of actual instacart shipment
What was happening at the time
It's the 3rd week into lockdown and newer estimates were starting to suggest that we may be under social distancing measures until June, potentially August, with worst-case estimates until the end of the year
I had only 2 weeks of food, as suggested by earlier measures, so I looked into delivery options
Please consider these recommendations before ordering:
Select the no contact delivery option to protect both you and your personal shopper (you can add instructions at checkout to have them text you/ ring the doorbell and leave)
Try to buy at least 2 weeks worth of groceries and minimize the # of trips. Personal shoppers are at continual risk for exposure
Tip!!!!!!!!!!!!
Other options I looked into that didn't work
Amazon: Everything on the Canadian website was pretty much sold out and I ain't paying $6 for 100g of organic, gluten-free, chickpea-based pasta
Walmart: I was really excited and actually built an entire cart but when I checked out I realized that all slots were entirely booked for the entire week. I couldn't subsequently get into any slots in the following days because they were snatched up so quickly. Delivery was also $10.
Metro: They DO deliver in other cities but not in mine! Tragique
So I chose Instacart -- but why Loblaws?
Look, Instacart only services Loblaws customers here in this city so it was my ONLY choice
And I NEVER shop at Loblaws because I'm not paying $5 for bread when the same bread costs $2 at Food Basics, when they're from the same company
With this being my only choice I went for it and accepted my fate.
Thank goodness Loblaws PC and Shopper's Optimum got combined because at least I can rack up those points. It's the only points card I got when I first became an Adult.
Step 1: Shopping on the Loblaws Instacart Interface
IDKY this is an option, but you can shop either on the Loblaws interface or the instacart interface
It's the exact same, at least in my limited searches
I ended up shopping on the Loblaws interface, hoping that it meant higher chance that I'd do the points thing right and earn some points
Step 2: The Grocery List Planning
I was actually buying for the month, and have a $100 limit on grocery budgets rn so I targeted the main food groups
I took stock of what was in the pantry and fridge first, and then constructed a list of what I wanted to buy...
Premade meals
I made the mistake of thinking I could go without frozen premade meals and I would cook every day. Even when I'm home though, this wasn't the case. I needed comfort food that I didn't make
+ frozen dumplings
Carbs
Keep in mind that I am made of carbs and get really hangry without them
+ pasta (shells!)
+ oatmeal (for breakfast, bc I'm no longer buying bread weekly)
+ noodles
Fruits
It as 2020 when I set intentional eating goals and started eating apples and tangerines, my least favourite fruits in my life
I'm not about to drop these habits y'all
+ bag of tangerines
+ bag of apples
Vegetables
Following my own vegetable life hack post and ordering the LUCY THREE categories of vegetables that will keep forever
+ green onions (to grow, and keep and talk to as friend bc I live alone)
+ frozen vegetables
+ pickles
Meat + Protein
I needed toppings for my instant ramen and noodles sooooo
+ eggs (I know these are potentially hard to come by but I LIVE FOR EGGS)
+ corned beef (how 2 budae jigae if no off-brand spam???)
+ dried chickpeas & lentils (I have canned but I wanted to learn how to use dried)
Other (treats + supplies)
+ chips (or snack of a sort)
+ coffee filters
Step 3: The reality of what I could order
Premade meals
[x] frozen dumplings
I found them, but they weren't the T&T brand (Loblaw owns No Frills, Food Basics and T&T so it carries the No Name Brand and T&T branded items)
Carbs
[x] pasta (shells!)
[x] oatmeal (for breakfast, bc I'm no longer buying bread weekly)
[x] noodles
This was a success, albeit a few cents more expensive
Fruits
[nope] bag of tangerines
[nope] bag of apples
instead: + yuja tea (for vitamin C + as a treat drink)
I WANTED TO BUY FRUITS but I actually did not end up buying fruits
Fruits at Loblaws are CRAZY expensive. Like I'm not paying $8.99 for a sack of apples and $1.39 PER ORANGE when it's like $1.39 per bag of oranges at food basics when it's on sale.
Vegetables
[x] green onions (to grow, and keep and talk to as friend bc I live alone)
[x] frozen vegetables
[x] pickles
I bought a whole litre of pickles bc it as the only Good Value option (thank you, no name brand)
Meat + Protein
[x] 18 eggs
[ nope] corned beef (cannot budae jigae bc no off brand spam)
[x] dried chickpeas & lentils (I have canned but I wanted to learn how to use dried)
[x] hot dogs (if I can't have fried spam to add to my noodle soup I might as well make hot dog octopi)
[x] sardines (if you've never had it, rice & sardines & a pickle is a really good struggle meal)
Other (treats + supplies)
[x] chips (or snack of a sort)
[x] coffee filters
The coffee filters were actually the best value? Also packaged in cardboard, which I feel is more readily recycled
Step 4: When I got clowned by my personal shopper (and also myself tbh)
My drop-off window is 1-3pm, and at 2pm, I got 12 messages.
What I THOUGHT the messages said: Your item (e.g., sour cream and onion chips) has been placed.
SO NATURALLY I went out to check. Nothing at my entrance to the apartment. Nothing at the main entrance of the house (people get confused a lot). Nothing at my neighbours' doors. Where is anything???
So I DMed the personal shopper like, hmm please let me know where you dropped things off, and he proceeded to answer in ONLY punctuation marks and emojis until...
I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT
What the messages actually said: Your item (e.g., sour cream and onion chips) has been replaced.
So I quickly apologized and was like sorry I was confused! Please carry on.
Guess how he responded?
With a single emoji.
🤡
Step 4: receiving the groceries -- a truly strange interaction
I haven't had social interaction with a real human being in 3 weeks but I swear this wasn't all me. This is how this unfolded.
I didn't hear when he first unloading the groceries. I had left a message being like, please ring the doorbell or knock loudly.
I did not hear the doorbell
I did absolutely hear the knock. I got up to get the door.
Before I got there, he tried the doorknob.
??? What did he think would happen ??? That it would open ??? It didn't, which I hope wasn't too surprising for him, because he was in for an even more exciting surprise.
As I approached the door but before I opened it, I heard him speaking. He wasn't speaking in English and he wasn't looking at the door anymore after he tried to the doorknob so I didn't think he was speaking to me? I also didn't see a phone though so I was really confused?
I opened the door and immediately heard WHOAHOAHWOHWOAHAOAHWOHWOHAOAHAOHAOHWOWHAOHAA
my personal shopper had lined up my groceries against the door, and my door unconventionally* opens outward
He then proceeded to remove one bag (1) so that now I could shift all my groceries slowly, but only enough so that I could only crack open the door so that my head could fit through.
He then: leaned over the groceries so as not to step on them, placed one hand on the outside of the door for support and placed his weight against it (thus closing it), and then tried to shove a total of 6 bags through that door
6 bags
SIX BAGS!!!
I'm marshmallow armed and cannot hold 6 bags of fragile glass and eggs so I politely declined and asked him to leave it on the floor as I grabbed 2 bags at a time to bring in.
Also so he would stop pushing on the door so I could open it large enough for the bags to fit through in the first place.
To add on to this, the most confusing thing is like, I was communicating important information to him while the entire time he didn't once respond because he was busy chatting over the Bluetooth in a language I didn't understand, which made it very difficult for me to convey to him that
if you push on a door, it closes the opening, through which you are trying to shove groceries through
but he heard none of that, and as soon as I said, "actually I can't hold 6 bags I'm gonna take 3 right now", he finally lets go of the rest of the bags, turns around and leaves.
we never once made eye contact
I yelled thank you after him ???
confusion level: 92%
😵
Step 5: I disinfected the f*ck out of all the groceries (step optional dependent on pandemic status)
Website Ease: ★★★★☆ {4/5}
Price: ★★★☆☆ {3/5}
Usefulness in pandemic: ★★★★★ {5/5}
Personal Shopper Customer Service Experience Overall: ★☆☆☆☆ {1/5} there was an attempt
Personal Shopper Customer Service Experience Leading To The Most Exciting Event That Has Happened To Me All Week That I Could Blog About: ★★★★★ {5/5}